


A study in Sherlock and John

by ababadaboop



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Cuddling, Cute, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, honestly it's just tiny and fluffy, it makes me happy, whoa I made a second chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-13 13:19:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9125428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ababadaboop/pseuds/ababadaboop
Summary: Tiny fluffy fic I wrote on a whim. Almost no dialogue.





	1. A study in Sherlock and John

Most people don't touch Sherlock, not like John touches Sherlock. Matter of fact, most people avoid touching Sherlock. Those who don't are Lestrade, Mrs Hudson, and Molly. And John, though he's got a category of his own, and that's people who touch Sherlock.

When John passes him tea, their fingers will brush on the cup. When Sherlock's brooding in his chair, John will bring him food and put a hand on his shoulder. When he's curled on the couch, John will sit at his feet to read and always allows Sherlock's feet to press against his leg or creep into his lap. It's strange and affectionate, and Sherlock's never had anybody touch him like that before.  
John's always nearby, too. Not so much as to rouse suspicion or intrude upon personal space, but he's always close. Sherlock will never admit it, but it comforts him when he's distressed with not finding an answer. This almost always leads him to finding the solution. John probably doesn't even know he's doing it. Sherlock does, though, and he's got several theories about it. Asking him directly would almost certainly put him off, and Sherlock can't think of a single experiment that would prove anything one way or another.

It's only when John's hand brushes his hair in passing one day that it hits him. He can reciprocate. These oddly intimate touches - Sherlock's perfectly capable of returning the gesture. Of course, he starts small and slow - John would certainly notice otherwise - with brushes of sleeves at crime scenes and occasionally moving their chairs closer, barely a half-centimeter at a time. Sherlock will eat more often, too, picking at meals even when deep in thought. John hasn't noticed this, but he's begun touching Sherlock's curls, absently twirling one around his finger or brushing his hand over them in passing.

After a few weeks of this, Sherlock notices they're standing much closer than they used to, coat sleeves brushing near-constantly on cases and sitting quite close on the couch. Sherlock will take the plates from John's hand now, fingers touching and tangling there, too. Their chairs are noticeably closer, if the change weren't so gradual that John hasn't noticed. Sherlock has, though, and knows if they both stretched their legs out, their toes would touch. And one night, as John stretches before getting up to go to bed, it happens. He merely cocks his head and furrows his brow. Sherlock sees that he hasn't figured it out, only that he doesn't recall that closeness. If he'd have figured it out, he'd have said something. Sherlock smiles to himself after the man is upstairs. He's doing well.

About a week later, at a particularly boring crime scene, they happen to be so close their knuckles brush against each other. John's still oblivious. They've started getting several looks walking around the streets, and Sherlock makes sure none of those stupid papers John reads has any mention of them - knowing the media, they'll likely pick up on something and blow it out of proportion, and John would certainly know then. Lestrade, Donovan, and Anderson are already well aware, and Sherlock's had a word with all of them. The more annoying pair has been threatened - with the exposure of their affair, obviously - and Lestrade has been politely (for Sherlock) spoken to.

Time ambles along, not much of anything coming to pass for weeks. John is blissfully oblivious. One night after a particularly alcoholic outing with Stamford and others, John comes in the door and promptly flings his arms around Sherlock's shoulders from behind the couch before stumbling (slightly) up to bed. Sherlock can't help smiling after that, though he doesn't bother considering why.  
He makes John a cup of strong coffee the next morning, and John accepts it with barely a grumble. He's no longer questioning Sherlock's rare shows of politeness - to him, they're no longer so rare.

Sherlock smiles to himself more often, and relishes in John's compliments of his deductions. He has no idea how the man hasn't noticed it, but at cases and crime scenes within walking distance of their flat, John will hold his hand for at least part of the walk back, never saying a word. Eventually, their hands slip together at some place or another, and he swears he sees a note slip from Anderson's hand to Lestrade's. How tasteless.

Eventually, a particularly difficult case comes along, one of those that takes days for even Sherlock to come across. John has mistakenly sat on the side of the couch Sherlock lays his head on, and neither of them notices until Sherlock flings himself down and his head lands right in John's lap. After the initial shock, John goes right back to his book, and a while after that, his hand begins to comb through and massage Sherlock's hair and head. The simulation is wonderful in assisting Sherlock's thought process, and he's formulated a plausible conclusion by the time John slips away and goes up to bed.

Two days pass before new evidence comes to light, and Sherlock discovers that John will frequently hum violin pieces he's heard Sherlock playing, including ones he's played while he was sure John was asleep. And of course, this causes Sherlock to play John's favorites in the middle of the night to see if he will hum them the next morning. He does. At the scene of the new evidence, Sherlock is grasping for conclusions, muttering to himself and pacing, until he hears John talking with Lestrade. About what, he hasn't the vaguest idea, but their voices pull him out of his head. He strides over, still mumbling, and begins directing questions towards them and answering them in rapid-fire until he's run out of answers. He repeats his last question, ruffling his curls in an attempt to shake the answer loose, until John speaks up. It's a completely wrong answer, but it sparks the explosive thought process and

"Oh!" Sherlock exclaims. "John, you are-" words no longer do it justice, and Sherlock's stooped down with John's face in his hands and their lips pressed together and he swears he can feel John's heartbeat but the other man has frozen and just as Sherlock is about to pull away, just a millisecond before, John surges forward and nearly knocks Sherlock over with the strength of his kiss. Sherlock's smile breaks it and then they're laughing, full gales of joyful laughter that trail off slowly, and before anyone from the Yard can say a word, Sherlock's snapped back into his cool, calculating persona, explaining the events of the case with John's hand held tightly in his own.


	2. The adventures of Sherlock and John

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wow it's cute! if you saw the first version of chapter two I apologise; that was not my best work but here is a much better version!!

Sherlock takes John home from the scene, smiling to himself the whole way and savoring the feeling of John's hand in his. Calluses on the palm, short, squared fingers. At least, compared to Sherlock's. John can barely stop himself from kissing Sherlock the moment they get in the door. He lasts about five seconds before pinning his detective against the wall, but Sherlock smiles and then they're standing there with hands interlocked and foreheads touching and smiling like idiots.

It only takes until the next week for John to borrow Sherlock's coat when he goes to do the shopping and when he gets back Sherlock is wearing one of his jumpers and he just smiles and kisses Sherlock and ruffles his hair.

After only another day John moves into Sherlock's room and Sherlock finds that John sleeps very stiffly so he takes to curling up with John to sleep with back pressed to chest and in the mornings there is warmhot skin and messy hair and breathing together. It's barely a few days before John doesn't sleep so rigidly anymore and he'll even reach out to Sherlock at night.  
Sherlock kisses John in the morning before he leaves for the surgery and in the evening when he returns and he makes dinner when John has stressful days which are much less now that John has Sherlock. John kisses Sherlock before he leaves on a case and Sherlock will leave early because he knows John will pull him back in the door and snog him against the wall until it's actually time to leave.

John doesn't ask about it until eight weeks have passed and when Sherlock tells him how he got the both of them so infatuated, all John says is "God, you brilliant man," and kisses him.  
Sherlock loves to kiss John - it's perhaps the one skill John is better at than Sherlock, although John claims Sherlock learns so fast that he'll soon become much better. Sherlock just laughs when John tells him this and John seems intent to prove it by kissing Sherlock every chance he gets, which Sherlock certainly won't object to. John knows how to kiss Sherlock to make him smile and giggle and look at John like a lovestruck fool and he knows how to kiss so Sherlock will smile and bid him farewell and have dinner waiting when he gets home and John knows how to kiss Sherlock until the blood rises in his cheeks and neither of them can breathe, hearts pounding chests heaving, lips slick and red and lying in bed just kissing and kissing for what feels like hours on end until one way or another they fall asleep. And when they wake up in the morning they will say good morning with lips and hands on hair and chests and backs until John gets up to use the loo and when he gets back Sherlock is already dressed. Still with crinkles of sheets on his face and hair flattened to one side, yes, but John smiles at him like he's never seen anything more beautiful.

Sherlock teaches John to dance, pushing furniture aside in the living room and coaching a blushing John through his favorite moves until finally he teaches John how to twirl and dip and John laughs and kisses Sherlock and neither of them can stop smiling for days.  
The Yard knows, of course, they knew since that first day, but John and Sherlock didn't know there was a bet until months afterwards - and to find out in the middle of a case, too! An irritated Sherlock snarks about wondering "what else they've put a bet on" and John gives him a look with a fiery spark behind the eyes that derails Sherlock's mind til they get home. And John talks to Sherlock and the next day Lestrade pretends not to notice the reddish bruise on John's throat but Sherlock still sees Anderson slip a pound note into his hand when he thinks they're not looking.

Mycroft's inevitable uninvited visit of course occurs when John and Sherlock have been snogging on the couch and neither of them can fix their hair or their clothes fast enough so Mycroft gives them a look of irritated disgust the whole time.

Sherlock will serve John kisses with his morning tea and John will bring Sherlock a coffee when he's at his microscope which is accompanied by a ruffling of curls and a kiss on the head. John leaves Sherlock mostly alone when he's in his mind palace, save for when he decides Sherlock has gone long enough without food or shower long enough and administers care before leaving Sherlock in peace again.  
Sherlock discovers he enjoys showering with John - John will rub shampoo into his hair and rinse it out again then trail a soapy cloth down his back until Sherlock turns around and kisses him to the wall - it always earns him a scolding, but he knows John's not really mad. Sherlock will drag long fingers through short-cropped sandy-blonde-graying hair and massage the tension out of his shoulders and back until John turns to kiss him but a raised eyebrow is all it takes to get him to turn round again. Mrs. Hudson always puts the excess water payments on their rent, but neither of them are particularly bothered.

Neither of them have lead particularly happy lives, but the other as a presence and an irremovable entanglement is indisputably blissful. Sherlock has composed many small pieces for John, though he'll never tell, and John will listen wholeheartedly and reward Sherlock with kisses and praise as soon as he's set down the violin. John has begun to sing in the shower, and upon discovery, Sherlock insists he sing for him. John is barely reluctant for a day but nearly the moment Sherlock hears his voice he kisses John so passionately they both forget about it entirely until the next day. When they figure out how well they can sing together, it becomes a favorite pastime of theirs, and together they teach each other to sing and dance at the same time. Their wedding would be enrapturing. Sherlock is surprised by the thought, but he can't stop smiling for nearly a week.

So when John proposes to Sherlock on their anniversary at Angelo's, Sherlock is so happy he can hardly speak a word beyond "yes".


End file.
